European maps

I need maps of France, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland and Italy for
planning my road-trip next year.

Who makes the best ones? And what scale would be good for finding
decent biking roads? 1:50000 a bit overkill?

 

I always use the Michelin ones.

 

maps.google.co.uk

 

I used this one:

http://www.philips-maps.co.uk/index.php?nID=product&id=10&ISBN=9780540088904

As for finding decent biking roads, in Italy I just looked for roads
that connected where I was to where I wanted to go and crossed open
country. If they were also marked as `scenic' that pretty much
guaranteed it. If I get around to it, I might list the good ones I
found.

 

When I'm travelling, I'll normally carry a small-scale map for the whole
country[1] and medium-large scale maps for the areas I'm going to be
visiting[2]. Only if I was going to be staying in the one place for, say, a
week, would I acquire a really large scale map[3].

[1]Eg the 1:1,136,400 Brittany Ferries freebie map of France
[2]Eg Michelin 1:200,000 or AA/IGN 1:180,000
[3]Eg IGN 1:25,000

 

Michelin. No argument.

 

It's not as much fun as spreading maps all over the living room floor
and using a marker pen to plan.

To keep the IT side up, the route will be put into a Garmin Zumo 550
for the trip.

 

That's two for the tubby white bloke.

Well, I don't mind buying lots of maps to make up one country. I like
collecting maps and already have pretty much all of the UK at 1:25k OS
so covering Europe will be fun.

BTW, can you send me details of that villa you got near Mugello in
2001?

 

Michelin it is then.

 

I'd have to give that a delayed AOL as well.

 

1) Michelin
2) 1/100000 is enough. The roads you could miss may no be that nice for
bikes (gravel, animals and animal droppings, agricultural machinery...)
3) Looks for those with a green lining, or with > or >> symbols, of that
cross many contour lines.

 

Thanks

 

Michelin, as others say. I like the ones that used to have a yellow
cover but seem to have orange ones in the updated version.
e.g. http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/516n06EXrJL._AA240_.jpg
or http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/410WVRM1P4L._AA240_.jpg
These seem to be about 1:200000

Apparantly you can get the whole French series in a ring bound book
now. I've not seen one yet but it has been recommended to me.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/France-Mich...pd_bxgy_b_img_b?ie=UTF8&qid=1196694120&sr=1-1

I like the sheets listed above, especially if you are using an Alpha
Baglux tankbag. The sheets are not too bulky and you can fold them
so that a decent section of the countryside is visible through the
map holder.

I've used similar Michelin maps in Italy & Austria. No idea about
Belgium or Switzerland.

 

I'd appreciate it. We're going to the GP so need somewhere to stay
for the weekend.

 

I still have the one of those I bought in about '88, though it's a bit large
for the bike. I suppose I ought to get an up-to-date one.

 

Yes, and no. My brother, a mate of his and me.

 

The villa might be a bit big....

 

That's what we use - got rid of the spiral binding and just take the
pages we need for each trip. We still have a few of the 1:200,000
maps, but they seem to have stopped doing them.

 

See my post above - the have replaced the yellow ones with 5xx orange ones.
Slightly larger scale 1:275000 but just as useable for bike touring. Most
branches of Waterstones seem to stock the whole set. As the French have
built a lot of new roads in the last decade the yellow ones are getting a
bit out of date.

 

I see where this is going..

...and it'd be rude if there were only a couple of people on 10R's..